This spring, Penn State still seemed to be able to attract some of the nation’s top players. The recruits were fully aware of the problems that came last fall, but they were impressed with the new coaching staff and felt they could be a part of the rebuilding process.

Now, it seems they don’t know what to think. The shock of the NCAA’s penalties, which came down Monday, has some of the prospects reeling.

Adam Breneman, a tight end who is Penn State’s top-rated recruit (No. 27 overall) in the Sporting News Top 125, was one of those recruits. He has already turned into an unofficial spokesman for the class.

“I guess the word would be shocked,” Brenaman told Sporting News on Tuesday afternoon. “Nobody in our class expected sanctions to come down like this. None of us thought it would be this bad. Of course, there’s a little bit of anger. Everybody completely understands that what happened at Penn State was wrong and that kids got hurt, but at the same time it really bothers me that the NCAA hurt so many other kids by taking things away.

"They didn’t have to do what they did to get their point across.”

Breneman is from Camp Hill (Pa.) in the heart of Penn State fandom. He grew up a fan of the program and Joe Paterno, so the whole situation has been hard to deal with.

He said his bond with new coach Bill O’Brien is what has kept him on board.

“I feel bad for Coach O’Brien,” Breneman said. “I knew there would be some rough things ahead but never expected this to happen. He’s such an awesome guy and he’s the main reason we have been on board. Coach O’Brien has committed to our recruiting class that he’ll be there for the next four years at least.

"I asked him a while ago if he felt a lot of pressure replacing Joe Paterno, and he said because he had a special needs child, he didn’t feel pressure anymore. If anybody can do this, it’s definitely him.”

Breneman said he is committed, but he does want to keep his eyes open to the way things play out.

Brendan Mahon, one of his fellow Penn State recruits and another SN125 player, told Sporting News that he’s in the same situation.

“At this point I am committed to Penn State and you can tell everyone that I love everything about Penn State and Coach O’Brien,” Mahon told Sporting News on Tuesday. “But I am going to keep my options open just in case anything drastic happens.”

Defensive end Garrett Sickels, one of the top players committed to Penn State, said Monday that his commitment is solid.

Ranked the No. 32 overall player in the 2013 class by Sporting News, the 6-foot-, 230-pounder from Red Bank Regional in Little Silver, N.J., talked to the Penn State staff Monday as well as some other commitments.

“All day I didn’t really talk to any reporters, didn’t really talk to any of my friends, my parents were at work, and they said, ‘Hey, you know what you have to do, it’s your decision.’ So I just weighed out the options and thought it out, and I don’t want to play for another staff,” Sickels told 247Sports.com. “All my friends, we’re the type of kids that say bowl games are bowl games, but there’s a great opportunity here that we can really grab, and that’s what we all decided to do, we stayed with it. This is our best shot.”

A four-star defensive end, Sickels is the No. 176 overall player with 247Sports.com.

“What it comes down to, I was looking at other options today, wondering what would happen or where I would go,” he added. “I was thinking, ‘What’s best for me?’ The best place for me is Penn State. I had options, Big 12, Pac-12—this is the place for me. This is why I committed in the first place.”